UFC 253: Adesanya vs Costa, Reyes vs Blachowicz. Return to Fight Island!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Sports Argument Stadium > The Hammer House: Stinger Splash Zone > UFC 253: Adesanya vs Costa, Reyes vs Blachowicz. Return to Fight Island!

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Brut: Aug 21, 2007

The Middleweight belt is on the line, the Light Heavyweight belt is vacant, and Diego Sanchez is fighting.

The card starts RIGHT NOW!

Here's what CommonShore thought a couple days ago:

CommonShore posted:

UFC 253 breakdown
Looking up fighters' tapology pages so you don't have to

For the Middleweight Championship
Israel Adesanya (c) vs Paulo Costa
A solid fight between a young champ and an undefeated contender. I feel as if this is something of a �new era� title fight as neither is an old/established commodity for the UFC. That�s refreshing, actually. That said, I�m not really sold on Costa or his wins, and I think that Adesanya is on a different level, and that the style matchup favours the champ.

For the vacant Light Heavyweight Championship
Dominick Reyes vs Jan Blachowicz
Reyes has looked solid lately, and had a good showing in his disputed title shot. Blachowicz has been getting some attention lately as being elite but I�m not sold on that. Sure, he put away Corey Anderson but so did OSP and Jimi Manuwa and Gian Villante. Other than that Blachowicz�s three fights have all been against fighters who moved up from middleweight, and he lost one of those by TKO, and took another to a split decision.

Kai Kara-France vs Brandon Royval
This is a strange matchup for the main card. Royval is 1-0 in the UFC with a submission win over Tim Elliot. Kai Kara-France is a kiwi striker with a 4-1 UFC record, who I find reasonably fun to watch. It�s not even that high profile of a fight at Flyweight, but it�s not a terrible matchup.

Ketlen Vieira vs Sijara Eubanks
Eubanks is in as a late replacement off of her dominant win over Julia Avila. Sarge is easy to mock because of her bad record, but I think that reflects her bad fight IQ. If she comes in with a gameplan of �get on top and use your loving awesome jits and punch hard� she might end up with a pretty brutal win here. Meanwhile Vieira is coming off of a KO loss to Irene Aldana, and most of her stoppages are by sub so that favours Eubanks. The x-factor is how inconsistent Eubanks is.

Hakeem Dawodu vs Zubaira Tukhugov
These guys both have names similar to fighters who fought in the last month. They aren�t those guys. Dawodu is a Canadian kickboxer on a 4-fight streak. Tukhugov is a Chechen sambo guy with a 3-1-1 UFC record. I see nothing worth mentioning on their records aside from Tukhugov was one of the guys suspended for the Khabib-Conor brawl.

Prelims
Brad Riddell vs Alex da Silva
I don�t know either of these guys. Riddell is ~~a Aussie~~ with two UFC decision wins over guys who I don�t know. Da Silva is a Brazilian with a 1-1 UFC record and whose 20-2 career record reads as if it were generated by a neural network programmed from Jungle Fight cards.

Diego Sanchez vs Jake Matthews
Diego Sanchez is being cornered by Stefan Bonnar this time, so at least he has a coach who knows what fighting is. Jake �The Celtic Kid� Matthews is yet another Aussie with a mixed UFC record. Matthews should probably handle Sanchez, at least in the on-paper matchup of physicality, skill, and mileage, but who knows how Matthews will react to the sheer weirdness of being in the cage with Sanchez. The x factor is how drunk Bonnar is.

Shane Young vs Ludovit Klein
Young is yet another Kiwi, who lost to Volkanovski way back in 2017 (jesus Volk has been active). There�s nothing else noteworthy on his record. Ludovit Klein has an awesome name and is from Slovakia. He�s making his UFC debut with a 16-2 record with many fights in a promotion called OKTAGON. He seems to be a striker.

William Knight vs Aleksa Camur
Knight is an 8-1 contender series prospect making his big show debut, and all of his fights have ended in stoppage. Camur is a 6-0 contender series product who has a decision win over Justin Ledet. I don�t see anything interesting on their records, but Light Heavyweight prospects are always welcome.

Early Prelims
Jeff Hughes vs Juan Espino
Want some fatweights? We have fatweights. Hughes came in as a 10-1 contender series product and has now lost to Mo Greene, eye poked Todd Duffee, and then lost a decision to some dude. Juan Espino won TUF 28 and hasn�t fought since, though he completely stomped Mo Greene in the TUF tournament. This looks to me like a tune-up fight for Espino who is coming off of 22 months layoff.

Khadis Ibragimov vs Danilo Marques
Ibragimov is an M1 champ who is 0-3 in the UFC including a loss to Ed Herman in Moscow. Why is he still in the UFC? Danillo Marques is a Brazillian making his UFC debut with an unremarkable 9-2 record. I GUESS. Light heavyweights, right? These guys don�t even look like prospects. I can�t even find anything like �both were late replacements.� What is this poo poo doing on my TV?

# ? Sep 27, 2020 00:00

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# ? Apr 20, 2024 01:28

BlindSite: Feb 8, 2009

Awww yesss! Fight day!

# ? Sep 27, 2020 00:02

Count Roland: Oct 6, 2013

Thanks for the thread. Didn't know FIGHT ISLAND was coming back.

And I can't believe Diego Sanchez is still fighting, good lord that poor man's brain.

# ? Sep 27, 2020 00:05

Ratios and Tendency: Apr 23, 2010; MURALI

Count Roland posted:

Thanks for the thread. Didn't know FIGHT ISLAND was coming back.

And I can't believe Diego Sanchez is still fighting, good lord that poor man's brain.

His brain is probably bad enough now that further violent restructuring is even money to improve things.

# ? Sep 27, 2020 00:08

BlindSite: Feb 8, 2009

Igbramov used to be a world champ then got beat three times in a row the moment he signed with the UFC. He's kinda letting down all of the russian region.

# ? Sep 27, 2020 00:10

BlindSite: Feb 8, 2009

Marqeus looks like the comes from the Keith Jardine school.

# ? Sep 27, 2020 00:13

Brut: Aug 21, 2007

I'm loving how ready Herzog is to slap away Ibragimov's hand from grabbing the fence each time.

# ? Sep 27, 2020 00:17

Ratios and Tendency: Apr 23, 2010; MURALI

lol this fight sucks

# ? Sep 27, 2020 00:20

BlindSite: Feb 8, 2009

Ratios and Tendency posted:

lol this fight sucks

I was hoping we might get a b league brawl out of these two. They both think they're professionals though :smith:

# ? Sep 27, 2020 00:21

Count Roland: Oct 6, 2013

Instead of watching this fight I've been watching old Genki Sudo highlight music videos on youtube. Just read that he's now a politician in Japan.

# ? Sep 27, 2020 00:24

LobsterMobster: Oct 29, 2009; "I was being quiet and trying to be a good boy but he dialed the right combination to open the throw-down vault and it was on."

"Walter Foxx is ten times brighter than your bulb at the bottom of the tree merry xmas"

trashweight time!

# ? Sep 27, 2020 00:40

BlindSite: Feb 8, 2009

Juan Espino looks like an action figure thats slowly melting.

# ? Sep 27, 2020 00:40

LobsterMobster: Oct 29, 2009; "I was being quiet and trying to be a good boy but he dialed the right combination to open the throw-down vault and it was on."

"Walter Foxx is ten times brighter than your bulb at the bottom of the tree merry xmas"

love a scarf hold

# ? Sep 27, 2020 00:46

BlindSite: Feb 8, 2009

A merciful ending.

# ? Sep 27, 2020 00:46

Truther Vandross: Jun 17, 2008

Juan Espino is pretty rad

# ? Sep 27, 2020 00:46

Brut: Aug 21, 2007

We got plenty of pens for you here on fight island

# ? Sep 27, 2020 00:47

Count Roland: Oct 6, 2013

Man he bailed on mount to go for a scarf hold crush. I guess he's done that before.

# ? Sep 27, 2020 00:47

JaySB: Nov 16, 2006

Is Stefan Struve working as a security guard in the octagon right now?

# ? Sep 27, 2020 00:48

Brut: Aug 21, 2007

JaySB posted:

Is Stefan Struve working as a security guard in the octagon right now?

I haven't noticed it tonight but there's been some really tall dude showing up on cards recently.

# ? Sep 27, 2020 00:52

BlindSite: Feb 8, 2009

I'm madly in love with Megan Olivi

# ? Sep 27, 2020 00:54

BlindSite: Feb 8, 2009

Brut posted:

I haven't noticed it tonight but there's been some really tall dude showing up on cards recently.

Was he the dude who walked out with like... batamweights or maybe one of the smaller women and you couldn't see his head on the broadcast, just his chest?

# ? Sep 27, 2020 00:55

CommonShore: Jun 6, 2014; A true renaissance man

is Espina the handsomest trashweight?

# ? Sep 27, 2020 00:59

Screama: Nov 25, 2007; Yes, I am very cereal.

BlindSite posted:

Was he the dude who walked out with like... batamweights or maybe one of the smaller women and you couldn't see his head on the broadcast, just his chest?

I think it was Volkanovski

# ? Sep 27, 2020 01:00

Southpaugh: May 26, 2007; Smokey Bacon

CommonShore posted:

is Espina the handsomest trashweight?

Lol no that's stipe

# ? Sep 27, 2020 01:06

JaySB: Nov 16, 2006

Brut posted:

I haven't noticed it tonight but there's been some really tall dude showing up on cards recently.

He was just in the octagon dwarfing Espino.

# ? Sep 27, 2020 01:06

JaySB: Nov 16, 2006

BlindSite posted:

I'm madly in love with Megan Olivi

She is lovely

# ? Sep 27, 2020 01:06

G-Hawk: Dec 15, 2003

Looks like I missed 2 meh fights but this next one is the most interesting prelim

I hope adesanya wins

# ? Sep 27, 2020 01:09

BlindSite: Feb 8, 2009

Wonder if William Knight is a live one. Lots of power but I've only seen his highlights. Dude looks like a loving truck though jesus.

# ? Sep 27, 2020 01:12

BlindSite: Feb 8, 2009

Ooof Camur's birthday was yesterday - booking a fight this close to your birthday is just asking the fight gods to laugh.

# ? Sep 27, 2020 01:13

BlindSite: Feb 8, 2009

Camur looks pretty calm and composed in there, decent defensive technique too. Knight's definitely got the size and strength advantage. I wonder if Knight has the curse of being an insane athlete where it covers up so much technical deficiency for so long so they can't really swim in the deeper waters. He's definitely got power but when he was trying to coral Camur there he wasn't really doing it properly - he's not really cutting the angles properly either.

# ? Sep 27, 2020 01:20

G-Hawk: Dec 15, 2003

Knights so loving big

# ? Sep 27, 2020 01:23

Count Roland: Oct 6, 2013

BlindSite posted:

Wonder if William Knight is a live one. Lots of power but I've only seen his highlights. Dude looks like a loving truck though jesus.

His back is so wide

# ? Sep 27, 2020 01:23

Mr Gorgon Holmes: Aug 1, 2007; Ask me about being possesed by the spirit of John Holmes

Knight is a touch rough around the edges, Camur is trying to wear down his big muscular frame with some grappling. Knights power works untill it doesn�t

Edit: as I write this he bends his arm into a pretzel

# ? Sep 27, 2020 01:24

BlindSite: Feb 8, 2009

Mr Gorgon Holmes posted:

Knight is a touch rough around the edges, Camur is trying to wear down his big muscular frame with some grappling. Knights power works untill it doesn�t

I wouldn't stand in front of Knight but I don't know if I like the strategy from the corner to take him down, or look to wrestle. He's got the footwork to tire him out on the feet. Make him chase.

# ? Sep 27, 2020 01:25

Brut: Aug 21, 2007

couple more seconds that guy loses an...elbow? shoulder? I dunno, something.

# ? Sep 27, 2020 01:26

Count Roland: Oct 6, 2013

Camur's arm didn't look very healthy at the bell.

# ? Sep 27, 2020 01:27

BlindSite: Feb 8, 2009

Brut posted:

couple more seconds that guy loses an...elbow? shoulder? I dunno, something.

You humerus will usually break.

# ? Sep 27, 2020 01:28

Mr Gorgon Holmes: Aug 1, 2007; Ask me about being possesed by the spirit of John Holmes

BlindSite posted:

I wouldn't stand in front of Knight but I don't know if I like the strategy from the corner to take him down, or look to wrestle. He's got the footwork to tire him out on the feet. Make him chase.

Going by the ground exchanges and knight brute forcing his way to top position. I think you are correct the feet might be a bit better in terms of not getting smashed

# ? Sep 27, 2020 01:29

BlindSite: Feb 8, 2009

Light Heavyweight is so dire.

# ? Sep 27, 2020 01:32

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# ? Apr 20, 2024 01:28

BrotherJayne: Nov 28, 2019

brutal.

Is Knight one of those dudes that used to be huge before he dropped down?

# ? Sep 27, 2020 01:32

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Sports Argument Stadium > The Hammer House: Stinger Splash Zone > UFC 253: Adesanya vs Costa, Reyes vs Blachowicz. Return to Fight Island!

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